Sinaloa Cartel of El Chapo Guzmán dominates U.S. drug trade, says DOJ

Although I frequently write about the horrific crimes committed by Los Zetas here in Mexico, a new report by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) says that the Sinaloa Cartel overwhelmingly controls the manufacturing, importation, sale, and distribution of drugs within the United States. In other words, the cartel has all the components of a vertical monopoly, and as a result has acquired significant market domination. Its products include marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroine. By forging business alliances and relationships with smaller gangs throughout the U.S., Sinaloa enjoys a commercial hegemony far exceeding that of Columbian and Asian drug organizations, says the government. The findings were contained in the 2011 National Evaluation of Drug Challenges, prepared by the National Drug Intelligence Agency.

The report notes that although all of the major Mexican cartels operate within the United States, Sinaloa is the most well organized and is equipped to handle the warehousing and transportation of drugs anywhere in the country. Its operations are so sophisticated that it can manufacture or import, and then deliver, tons of product at a time. Its control of drug routes running from Central America north to the U.S. border enhances its market advantage, according to the report's authors.

Joaquín Guzmán is Mexico's most famous drug lord, as well as the world's most wanted man. El Chapo ("Shorty," as he's called) is 54, and managed to escape from a Mexican prison more than a decade ago. The United States has a standing offer of $5 million for his capture, alleging that he and his Sinaloa cartel are responsible for the majority of marijuana and cocaine smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico and Columbia. Mexico has put a $2 million bounty on his head.

Guzmán once made a Forbe's magazine list of the World's Most Famous People, # 41 out of 67. Forbes described him as "the bggest druglord of all time." After the death of Osama Bin Laden in May, El Chapo moved to the top of the FBI's and Interpol's most wanted persons lists. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has said that Guzmán is "the godfather of the drug world." In its latest analysis of the Sinaloa cartel, DOJ says that the organization's influence shows no sign of abating and that its power and dominance will likely increase in the years ahead.

In mid-August El Chapo's wife - one of them, anyway - delivered twin girls in a Los Angeles area hospital.